Well bucket bottom



Sept. 1 1931. T. H. M CLINTON 1,821,441

WELL BUCKET BOTTOM Filed Oct. 25, 1950 Patented Sept. 1, 1931 UNITED STATES THEOPHILUS H. MCCLINTON, 0F FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS WELL BUCKET Bo'r'roM Application filed 0ct0ber 2 5, 1930. Serial No. 491,282.

This invention relates to metal Well buckets, such as are used in the Middle West and in other localities, these metal well bucketsordinarily consisting of a metallic body, tapered toward its lower end, the lower end of the body having what is known as a bottom, attached tothe lower end of the body and having therein a valve, opening when the bucket is'lowered in the well to permit the bucket to fill and automatically closing when the bucket is withdrawn from the well. Wells in which buckets of this character are used are relatively small in diameter and very often the lining of the well consists of terra-cotta pipe or tile. The bucket'as it is lowered into the well is likely to strike against the joints in this tiling and the same is true when the bucket is raised, though not to the same extent. Itis, therefore, necessary to taper the buckets to- Wards the lower end so that the buckets will be guided down in the Welland centered therein to minimize the likelihood of the bottom of the bucket striking the joints in the tile or terra-cotta pipe. Furthermore buckets of this type are subjected to very many jars, not only by thelower end of the bucket striking the joints of the well,

but by the bucket striking thebottomof the well,-and under these circumstances, it 'is particularly necessary that the lower end of the] bucket shall be in the first place strengthened and in the next place that the lower edge ofthe metal forming the body of-the bucket shall be protected or shielded against breakage or wear and in the third place that the bucket bottom which supports the valve shall be rigidly connected to the lower end of, the relatively thinner' metal which forms the body of the bucket. Another requirement, is that the bucket bottom shall be capable of being readily andsecurely assembled upon the body of the i deeper toward the lower end of the bucket.

.The'se crimps or; corrugations not only'act bucket and firmly soldered thereto. p

The general object of the present .inven;

tion is to provide a bucket bottom which fits securely upon the tapered corrugated end of the bucket bodyand which is so engagedwith the lower end of the bucket body that it cannot readily become detached therefrom, but that on the other hand it is firmlyheld in place so as to form practically one piece with the body under operation. A further object is to provide a bucket bottom which is soldered to the body and which is so constructed'thata relatively small amount of solder is necessary. Another object is to so construct this bucket bottom that the metal of which it is made 1 is strengthened against jars and that the outer flange of the bucket bottomshall not readily wear out by friction against the wall of the well, this beingone of the main reasons why these buckets wear out.

Other objects have to do with the manner in which the bucket bottom is formed, ap plied and engaged with the bucket body.

- My invention is illustrated in the accomconstructed in accordance with my invention, r I j Fig; 2 is an enlarged diam'etic section on a vertical plane taken through the lower end of the bucket, ig. 3 is a fragmentary section on the line 33 of Fig.2; Fig. 4 is a cross section of theblank forming the bottom of the bucket as it is initially formed; Fig. 5'is a cross section ofgthe same blank shown in Fig. 4 but as it is completely formed prior 'toplacing it on the body of thefbucketj I i Y 1 Referring to these drawings, 10 designates the bucket body which is made of sheet metal such as galvanized'iron'or the like. In order to taper the lowerjend of thebucket body'for' the reasonsbefore stated,the lower end of thebody is formed with a plurality of vertical corrugations 11, these corrugations beingsinuous in cross section as illustrated in Figure 3 and growing gradually to taper the lower portion of the body but very greatlystrength'en it against longitu'-' dinal shocks and jarsto which the bucket body is subjected.

-' -Associatedwith the lower end of the bucket body'is the bucket bottom 12 which is formed with a central opening 13. The central opening is defined by an upwardly curved annular portion 14 and beyond this portion, the outer margin of the bucket bottom extends downward as at 15 to the lower edge of the bucket body, then extends upward as at 16 exteriorly of the bucket body. Thus this portion formed bythe walls 15 and 16 defines what may be termed a pocket into which the lower corrugated'end of the bucket body is inserted, this lower end of the bucket body coming down practically to the lower end of the pocket.

Attached to the upper face of the bottom 12, as by. soldering, is a cross bar 17 which supports and guides the stem of a valve which normally seats upon the portion 1 1 and which normally closes the central opening 13. The construction of this'valve has nothing to do with the present invention. Suffice it to say that when the bucket is lowered ino the well, the valve opens, so that the'bucket fills with water, and'then when the bucket is raised, the valve closes under the weight of water. The valve may be of any suitable construction.

Itwill be noted from Figure 2 that the upwardly extending wall or flange 16 is corrugated to conform to the corrugations 11 of the bucket body and is forced into these corrugations so as to closely around the corrugated wall 11. The. space between the three layers of metal 15, 11 and'16 is designed to be filled with solder designated 17.

In forming this bucket bottom, the bottom is first stamped out to form a circular body having a relatively wide portion which constitutes a flange (see Figure 4). At the next operation, this flange is turned up and corrugated and the central opening 13 is cut out. The bottom is then placed on the bucket and the bucket and bottom are placed in rolls having cogs'and the corrugations of flange 16 are forced down into the corrugations 11 of the body so that the bottom fits perfectly tight on and completely conforms to the corrugated lower end of the body. Then it is ready for soldering The bottom is soldered to the body by dipping the lower endof the bucket with the bottom applied thereto in a bath of molten solder. This solder as illustrated in the sectional view in Figure 2 is drawn by capillary attraction downward around the exterior of the lower end of the bucket :body between the body andthe flange 16 and upward between the wall 15 and the lower end of the bucket body. a

In this construction only a minimum of solder is required to be used because the corrugations of the flange 16 are forced into and fit closely into the corrugations 11. The corrugations in the flange 16 strengthen this flange and rigidify it very greatly and because of the fact that the corrugations in flange 16 fit into the corrugations 11, the bucket bottom will not knock off by the edge of the flange 16 striking against the joints in the wall of the well when the bucket is raised or by the bumping to which the lower end of the bucket is subjected when the bucket is lowered into the well. Where the tiling is not straight or where there are bad joints, the bottom of a well bucket of this character strikes against the tiling as it goes down or as it is drawn up and this bumping tends to break the solder loose. There is no possibility of breaking the solder loose in this bucket because of the fact that the exterior flange 16 of the bottom is corrugated to it closely into the corrugations 11 of the bucket itself and the galvanized iron of which the bottom is made would have to be worn-throughbefore the bucket would leak. The metal from which the bucket bottom is made may be slightly heavier than the sheet metal from which the body is made. At the bottom there are three thicknesses of metal,- one on the inside 15, one on the outside 16 and the intermediate thickness of metal consisting of the corrugated lower end of the bucket body. Thus the bucket bottom is particularly strongly and rigidly connected to the body and in such a way that itwill not tend to rotate upon the bucket body, no matter to what jars or jolts it is subjected and thus there will be no tendency to rupture the layer of solder holding the bottom to the body.

Furthermore, by reason of the fact that the lower end of the bottom is sheathed between two thicknesses of metal 15 and 16, the outer thicknessof which is corrugated to closely fit the corrugations 11, the bucket willstand much harder wear and will withstand blows much better than the ordinary bucket bottom, such for instance as, that shown-in the patent to Little 1,534,455. If the flange 16 were not corrugated to fit the corrugations 11 but extended straight upwardly and merely touched the crests of the corrugations 11, the lcost of soldering this bucket bottom to the bucket body would be extremely highand practically prohibitive and furthermore the solder being relatively thick, would tend to crackunder bumps and jars so that the bucket bottom would loosen. Of course, it will be understood that I do not wish tobe limited to the particular form of body'illustrated, provided the lower end of the body is longi-' tudinally corrugated or crimped. Neither do I wish to be limited to the exact form of the bucket bottom except as stated in the claims.

I claim I v 1. A metal well bucket having the lower portion of its body longitudinally corrugated tothe lower extremity of the body, and

a bottom therefor formed to provide an annular pocket within which the lower end of the body is inserted, the outer wall to the bottom of the pocket being corrugated to fit the corrugations at the lower end of the body.

2. A metal well bucket having the lower portion of its body longitudinally corrugated to the lower extremity of the body, and a bottom therefor formed to provide an annular pocket within which the lower end of the body is inserted, the outer wall to the bottom of the pocket being corrugated to fit the corrugations at the lower end of the body, the walls of the pocket being soldered to the lower end of the body disposed between said walls.

3. A metal well bucket having a body, the lower portion of which is tapered and longitudinally corrugated, the corrugations increasing in depth to the lower end of the body and terminating at the extreme lower end thereof, and a bottom formed to provide a central portion extending downward and outward to the lower edge of the body, then extending upward to form a flange around the exterior of the lower extremity of the body, the flange being corrugated to fit the corrugations at the lower end of the body, the lower end of the body being soldered to said flange and to the downwardly extending inner wall of the bottom.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

THEOPHILUS H. MGCLINTON. 

